January 7
Events *1325 - Alfonso IV becomes King of Portugal. *1558 - France takes Calais, the last continental possession of England. *1598 - Boris Godunov seizes the throne of Russia. *1608 - Fire destroys Jamestown. *1610 - Galileo Galilei observes the four largest moons of Jupiter for the first time. He named them and in turn the four are called the Galilean moons. *1735 - Hieronimus de Salis marries hon. Mary ffane, at St. Margaret's Westminster. *1782 - The first American commercial bank, Bank of North America, opens. *1785 - Frenchman Jean-Pierre Blanchard and American John Jeffries travel from Dover, England, to Calais, France, in a gas balloon. *1797 - The current flag of Italy is first used. *1835 - HMS Beagle anchors off the Chonos Archipelago. *1894 - W.K. Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film. *1904 - The distress signal "CQD" is established only to be replaced two years later by "SOS." *1922 - Dáil Éireann ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by a 64-57 vote. *1924 - George Gershwin completes Rhapsody in Blue. * 1924 - The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is founded in Paris by seven member states: Austria, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, France, Hungary, Spain, and Switzerland. *1927 - First transatlantic telephone call - New York City to London. * 1927 - The Harlem Globetrotters play their first game. *1935 - Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval sign the Franco–Italian Agreement. *1942 - World War II: Siege of the Bataan Peninsula begins. *1945 - World War II: British General Bernard Montgomery holds a press conference in which he claims credit for victory in the Battle of the Bulge. *1950 - A fire at the Mercy Hospital in Davenport, kills 41 people. *1953 - President Harry Truman announces that the United States has developed a hydrogen bomb. *1954 - Georgetown-IBM experiment, the first public demonstration of a machine translation system, is held in New York at the head office of IBM. *1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government of Fidel Castro. *1972 - Iberia Airlines Caravelle 6-R crashed into Mont San Jose on approach to Ibiza Airport killing all 104 on board. *1979 - Phnom Penh fell to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. *1980 - President Jimmy Carter authorizes legislation giving $1.5 billion in loans to bail out Chrysler Corporation. *1984 - Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). *1990 - The Leaning Tower of Pisa is closed to the public due to safety concerns. *1993 - The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as President. *1999 - The impeachment trial of President Bill Clinton begins. Births *1355 - Thomas of Woodstock, 1st Duke of Gloucester, son of Edward III of England (d. 1397) *1502 - Pope Gregory XIII (d. 1585) *1528 - Jeanne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (d. 1572) *1647 - Wilhelm Ludwig, Duke of Württemberg (d. 1677) *1685 - Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761) *1706 - Johann Heinrich Zedler, German publisher (d. 1751) *1718 - Israel Putnam, American Revolutionary War general (d. 1790) *1768 - Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples (d. 1844) *1786 - John Catron, Justice of the U.S. Supreme COurt (d. 1865) *1796 - Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (d. 1817) *1800 - Millard Fillmore, 13th President of the United States (d. 1874) *1827 - Sir Sandford Fleming, Canadian engineer; introduced Universal Standard Time (d. 1915) *1830 - Albert Bierstadt, German-American painter (d. 1902) *1831 - Heinrich von Stephan, German labor organizer (d. 1897) *1834 - Johann Philipp Reis, German physicist and inventor (d. 1874) *1844 - Bernadette Soubirous, French saint (d. 1879) *1860 - Emanuil Manolov, Bulgarian composer (d. 1902) *1871 - Émile Borel, French mathematician and politician (d. 1956) *1873 - Adolph Zukor, Hungarian producer (d. 1976) * 1873 - Charles Péguy, French poet and essayist (d. 1914) *1875 - Gustav Flatow, German gymnast (d. 1945) * 1875 - Thomas Hicks, American runner (d. 1963) *1891 - Zora Neale Hurston, American author (d. 1960) *1896 - Arnold Ridley, British playwright and actor (d. 1984) *1899 - Francis Poulenc, French composer (d. 1963) *1903 - Warren Hull, American actor (d. 1974) * 1903 - Alan Napier, English actor (d. 1988) *1908 - Red Allen, American musician (d. 1967) *1910 - Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (d. 1984) * 1910 - Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas (d. 1994) *1912 - Charles Addams, American cartoonist (d. 1988) *1913 - Johnny Mize, American baseball player (d. 1993) *1916 - Paul Keres, Estonian chess player (d. 1975) *1922 - Vincent Gardenia, Italian-born actor (d. 1992) * 1922 - Jean-Pierre Rampal, French flutist (d. 2000) * 1922 - Alvin Dark, American baseball player and manager *1923 - Hugh Kenner, Canadian literary critic (d. 2003) *1924 - Pablo Birger, Argentine racing driver (d. 1966) *1925 - Gerald Durrell, British naturalist (d. 1995) *1928 - William Peter Blatty, American screenwriter *1929 - Terry Moore, American actress *1934 - Charlie Jenkins, American runner * 1934 - Jean Corbeil, Canadian politician (d. 2002) *1935 - Kenny Davern, American jazz clarinetist (d. 2006) * 1935 - Tommy Johnson, American tubist (d. 2006) * 1935 - Valeri Kubasov, Soviet cosmonaut *1937 - Paul Revere, American musician *1938 - Roland Topor, French illustrator (d. 1997) * 1938 - Rory Storm, British singer (d. 1972) * 1938 - Lou Graham, American golfer *1939 - Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark *1941 - Iona Brown, British violinist and conductor (d. 2004) * 1941 - John E. Walker, English chemist, Nobel Prize laureate *1942 - Vasily Alexeev, Russian weightlifter * 1942 - Danny Williams, South African singer (d. 2005) * 1942 - Jim Lefebvre, American baseball player and manager *1944 - Arne Scheie, Norwegian sports commentator *1945 - Tony Conigliaro, American baseball player (d. 1990) * 1945 - Dick Marty, Swiss politician *1946 - Jann Wenner, American publisher *1947 - Shobha De, Indian writer *1948 - Kenny Loggins, American singer *1949 - Marshall Chapman, American singer/songwriter * 1949 - Anne Schedeen, American actress * 1949 - Steven Williams, American actor *1950 - Erin Gray, American actress * 1950 - Johnny Lever, Indian actor * 1950 - Juan Gabriel, Mexican singer and songwriter * 1950 - Ross Grimsley, American baseball player *1951 - Helen Worth, British actress *1952 - Sammo Hung, Hong Kong actor *1956 - David Caruso, American actor * 1956 - Mike Liut, Canadian ice hockey player *1957 - Nicholson Baker, American novelist * 1957 - Katie Couric, American television host * 1957 - Julian Solis, Puerto Rican boxer *1959 - Kathy Valentine, American musician (The Go-Gos) *1962 - Aleksandr Dugin, Russian politician *1964 - Nicolas Cage, American actor *1966 - Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, American publicist (d. 1999) *1967 - Mark Lamarr, British comedian and broadcaster * 1967 - Guy Hebert, American ice hockey player *1969 - David Yost, American actor *1970 - Doug E. Doug, American actor * 1970 - Joao Ricardo, Angolan footballer *1971 - C.W. Anderson, American professional wrestler *1972 - Donald Brashear, American ice hockey player *1973 - Jonna Tervomaa, Finnish singer *1974 - John Rich, American guitarist and bassist (Big & Rich) *1976 - Éric Gagné, Canadian baseball player * 1976 - Alfonso Soriano, Dominican baseball player *1977 - Michelle Behennah, British model * 1977 - Dustin Diamond, American actor *1978 - Kevin Mench, American baseball player *1979 - Bipasha Basu, Indian model * 1979 - Mariangel Ruiz, Venezuelan actress and model *1981 - Marquis Daniels, American basketball player * 1981 - Alex Auld, Canadian ice hockey player *1982 - Francisco Rodriguez, Venezuelan baseball player * 1982 - Hannah Stockbauer, German swimmer * 1982 - Ianina Zanazzi, Argentine racing driver *1983 - Natalie Gulbis, American golfer *1984 - Jon Lester, American baseball player *1985 - Lewis Hamilton, English F1 racing driver *1986 - Grant Leadbitter, English footballer *1988 - Scott Pendlebury, Australian rules footballer *1990 - Liam Aiken, American actor * 1990 - Elene Gedevanishvili, Georgian figure skater * 1990 - Camryn Grimes, American actress Deaths *1400 - Thomas Holland, 1st Duke of Surrey, English politician (b. 1374) *1451 - Amadeus VIII, Count of Savoy (b. 1383) *1536 - Catherine of Aragon, consort of Henry VIII of England (b. 1485) *1566 - Louis de Blois, Flemish mystic (b. 1506) *1619 - Nicholas Hilliard, English painter (bc. 1547) *1625 - Ruggiero Giovannelli, Italian composer (bc. 1560) *1658 - Theophilus Eaton, American colonist (b. 1590) *1694 - Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, English general (bc. 1618) *1700 - Raffaello Fabretti, Italian antiquarian (b. 1618) *1715 - François Fénelon, French-Catholic theologian and writer (b. 1651) *1758 - Allan Ramsay, Scottish poet (b. 1686) *1767 - Thomas Clap, 1st president of Yale University (b. 1703) *1770 - Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish politician (b. 1695) *1783 - William Tans'ur, English hymnist (b. 1700) *1786 - Jean-Étienne Guettard, French physician and scientist (b. 1715) *1830 - Thomas Lawrence, English painter (b. 1769) *1864 - Caleb Blood Smith, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (b. 1808) *1872 - James Fisk, American entrepreneur (b. 1834) *1876 - Juste Olivier, Swiss poet (b. 1807) *1878 - François-Vincent Raspail, French chemist (b. 1794) *1892 - Tewfik Pasha, Khedive of Egypt (b. 1852) *1893 - Jožef Stefan, Slovenian physicist and mathematician (b. 1835) *1913 - Jack Boyle, American baseball player (b. 1866) *1919 - Henry Ware Eliot American industrialist and philanthropist (b. 1843) *1920 - Edmund Barton, 1st Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1849) *1943 - Nikola Tesla, Serbian-born inventor and electrical engineer (b. 1856) *1944 - Napoleon Lapathiotis, Greek poet (b. 1888) *1951 - René Guénon, French-Egyptian author (b. 1886) *1953 - Osa Johnson, American explorer (b. 1894) *1964 - Cyril Davies, American musician (b. 1932) *1967 - David Goodis, American writer (b. 1917) *1972 - John Berryman, American poet (b. 1914) * 1972 - Eftichia Papagianopoulos, Greek lyricist *1980 - Larry Williams, American singer and songwriter (b. 1935) *1984 - Alfred Kastler, French physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1902) *1986 - Philip D. Eastman, American children's book writer and illustrator (b. 1909) * 1986 - Juan Rulfo, Mexican novelist (b. 1917) *1988 - Trevor Howard, English actor (b. 1913) * 1988 - Michel Auclair, French actor (b. 1922) *1989 - Hirohito, Emperor of Japan (b. 1901) *1990 - Bronko Nagurski, American football player (b. 1908) *1992 - Richard Hunt, American puppeteer (The Muppets) (b. 1951) *1995 - Murray Rothbard, American economist (b. 1926) *1996 - Tarō Okamoto, Japanese avant-garde artist (b. 1911) * 1996 - Károly Grósz, Hungarian politician (b. 1930) *1998 - Vladimir Prelog, Croatian chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1906) * 1998 - Owen Bradley, American record producer (b. 1915) *2000 - Gary Albright, American professional wrestler (b. 1963) * 2002 - Jon Lee, Welsh musician (Feeder) (b. 1968) * 2002 - Avery Schreiber, American actor (b. 1935) *2004 - Ingrid Thulin, Swedish actress (b. 1926) *2005 - Pierre Daninos, French novelist (b. 1913) * 2005 - Eileen Desmond, Irish politician (b. 1932) *2006 - Heinrich Harrer, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1912) *2007 - Bobby Hamilton, NASCAR team owner (b. 1957) * 2007 - Magnús Magnússon, Icelandic-born television presenter (b. 1929) Holidays and observances External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- January 07